I don’t think I’ve heard anyone imply that he’s important because he’s a martyr, it’s the fact he believes in his cause strongly enough and he was brave enough to stare down inevitable death and force the other guy to blink that’s so memorable about that image (at least for me and those I’ve spoken to about it)
The psyops propaganda you posted is definitely cringe af but it seems to clearly show the tank turning in the clip, calling it a clear example of misleading people into thinking he was killed is a pretty big stretch imo